Mortenax Blade Build
Mortenax Blade is a 5★ Fire character on the Path of Nihility in Honkai: Star Rail. Below are the character's stats, skills and Eidolons — plus a pity calculator if you plan to pull.
Mortenax Blade is a hybrid between a 'reckless brawler' and a 'living shield': he burns his own HP to unleash massive AoE Fire damage across all enemies while also taunting them (forcing enemies to attack him instead of teammates) and cutting his own damage taken to protect the team.
Sub-stat priority: CRIT Rate > CRIT DMG > HP% > SPD > Effect RES
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Deals Fire DMG equal to 70% of Mortenax Blade's Max HP to one designated enemy, and causes the target to enter the Taunt state for 1 turn.
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Consumes HP equal to 10% of Mortenax Blade's Max HP and deals Fire DMG equal to 90% of Mortenax Blade's Max HP to all enemies, and additionally deals 4 instance(s) of DMG, with each instance dealing Fire DMG equal to 30% of Mortenax Blade's Max HP to one random enemy. If the current HP is insufficient, Mortenax Blade's current HP will be reduced to 1 when he uses Skill. While not in the "Infinite Fury" state or when the current HP is 1 or lower, Mortenax Blade cannot use his Skill. Using Skill does not consume Skill Points.
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Inflicts "Balefire Bind" on all enemies. Enemy targets in the "Balefire Bind" state have their DEF reduced by 35% and the DMG they receive increases by 60%, lasting for 2 turn(s). Then, consumes HP equal to 20% of Mortenax Blade's Max HP to deploy a Zone. While the Zone is active, Mortenax Blade enters the "Infinite Fury" state. During the "Infinite Fury" state, increases CRIT Rate by 20%, increases CRIT DMG by 75%, enhances Basic ATK, unlocks Skill, and gains a new Ultimate "Tenax Per Ignem." When receiving a killing blow, this unit will not be knocked down, but will dispel the Zone, exit the "Infinite Fury" state, and restore HP equal to 50% of this unit's Max HP. When gaining the "Infinite Fury" state, a corresponding countdown appears on the Action Order. The countdown has a fixed SPD of 70. At the start of the countdown's turn, dispels the Zone and exits the "Infinite Fury" state. If the current HP is insufficient, Mortenax Blade's current HP will be reduced to 1 when he uses this ability.
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While the Zone is active, after each attack an ally target uses on an enemy, inflicts the "Balefire Bind" state on the corresponding enemy target and grants 1 Charge to Mortenax Blade. When Charge reaches 9 points and the current HP is more than 1, consumes 9 Charge, regenerates 30 Energy, and enables Mortenax Blade to use Skill 1 extra time. This extra Skill use is considered as Follow-Up ATK.
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Attacks an enemy, and after entering combat, reduces their Toughness of the corresponding Type.
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Immediately attacks all enemies within a certain range. After entering combat, inflicts the Taunt state on all enemies for 1 turn and decreases DMG taken by this unit by 90% for 2 turn(s).
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Deals Fire DMG equal to 140% of Mortenax Blade's Max HP to one designated enemy, and causes the target to enter the Taunt state for 1 turn.
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Deals Fire DMG equal to 420% of Mortenax Blade's Max HP to all enemies.
Mortenax Blade can accumulate up to 80 overflow Energy. After using Ultimate, clears it and regenerates a corresponding amount of Energy. When the battle starts or when the Zone is dispelled, if Energy is below 75%, it is immediately regenerated to 75%. When Energy is regenerated to its maximum, dispels all debuffs from this unit.
While the Zone is active, increases the chance of being attacked by enemies, decreases DMG taken by this unit by 50%, and increases Incoming Healing by 50%. After being attacked, inflicts the "Balefire Bind" state on the corresponding target, and enables Mortenax Blade to gain 1 Charge.
While the Zone is active, ally targets deal 50% increased DMG. If there are other Nihility characters aside from Mortenax Blade in the team, Ultimate DMG dealt by ally targets increases by 75%. Otherwise, DMG dealt by Mortenax Blade additionally increases by 75%.
What is the best Light Cone for Mortenax Blade?
The best Light Cone for Mortenax Blade is In the Name of the World (top pick). See F2P options in the Light Cones section above.
Is Mortenax Blade worth pulling?
Mortenax Blade is a hybrid between a 'reckless brawler' and a 'living shield': he burns his own HP to unleash massive AoE Fire damage across all enemies while also taunting them (forcing enemies to attack him instead of teammates) and cutting his own damage taken to protect the team. Since he is brand new, this is an early assessment - a cautious 4/5: high potential but still needs more real-world verification.
What is the best team for Mortenax Blade?
Team 1 (premium, high investment): Mortenax Blade + Robin (team-wide ATK/CRIT buffs) + Ruan Mei (general DMG boost and enemy weaken) + Huohuo (healing plus SPD buff). Team 2 (budget-friendly, easy to build): Mortenax Blade + Tingyun (ATK buff and Energy support) + Gallagher (shield plus healing) + Lynx (healing and emergency rescue) - great for newer players since Mortenax burns a lot of his own HP and needs steady healing. Team 3 (debuff-stacking, weakens enemies): Mortenax Blade + Pela (DEF shred) + Jiaoqiu (extra Fire DMG amplification) + Bailu (healing). All three teams need at least one dedicated healer, since Mortenax Blade constantly burns his own HP.
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3★How to read this build page
Every character build page has these parts: recommended Light Cone/Relic sets and stat table, a Trace/skill leveling order, Eidolon milestones worth considering, and a reference SPD threshold. Read them in that order — gear tells you "what to use", Traces tell you "what to level first", Eidolon tells you "is it worth pulling dupes", SPD tells you "how fast you need to be to keep the rotation on time". The section below explains how to read each part and applies the same way to every character on the site — check the exact numbers in the table above this section, since community sources sometimes differ by a few points.
Why the Light Cone and Relic picks make sense
Most characters have a "signature" Light Cone built for their exact role, plus a few cheaper substitutes from the standard banner or easy-to-get 3-4★ cones. Missing the signature isn't a dead end — most characters keep most of their power with a well-matched substitute, typically losing somewhere between a few percent and roughly a fifth of total damage depending on the setup, per most public comparisons.
- Relic sets (2pc+2pc or 4pc) are picked for the set effect that fits that character's role (single-target DPS, AoE, shield/healing support, Break damage, and so on).
- Main stats per slot (Body/Feet/Sphere/Rope) and substats follow a priority that changes by role: DPS roles usually chase CRIT Rate/CRIT DMG before ATK%; Break-focused roles prioritize Break Effect; support/healing roles often value Effect Hit/RES or Outgoing Healing over pure CRIT.
These weights differ per character and can shift slightly between ranking sources — follow the exact priority table above rather than applying one formula to every role.
Trace/skill leveling order by role (a general guideline, not a fixed rule)
There's no single order that's correct for every character, and community sources sometimes disagree depending on the team the character is used in — but the general pattern by role is:
- DPS: level whichever skill (Skill or Ultimate) carries most of the damage for that character first, with Basic ATK usually last if it isn't the main damage source.
- Support/Buffer: prioritize Traces that boost buff strength or the skill that applies the effect over Basic ATK, since this role's value comes from lifting the team rather than personal damage.
- Healer/Shielder: prioritize the main healing or shield skill first, since that is the reason the team runs this character.
- Break/CC: prioritize whichever skill contributes the most Toughness Damage, since the Break/Weakness Break window is where the team dumps damage.
Major Traces unlock at fixed ascension levels in-game, not by choice — but which one to level first (when resources are limited) should follow the role priority above. Since the exact order can differ between ranking sources, check the specific recommendation in the table above for this character.
Eidolons: how far E0 gets you, and which milestone is worth considering
General rule: most characters at E0 (no duplicates) already handle most content, even 5-star characters. Eidolons are a duplicate-fueled upgrade system — higher levels cost more resources for a smaller power gain, and the actual gain varies a lot per character (some barely change role at E0, others shift how they're played at a specific level). The milestones most often cited by the community tend to sit at E1, E2, or E6 depending on the character — but none of these are required to clear the game's content. Check the Eidolon section in the table above for this character's specific milestone and gain; if sources disagree on how to rate a milestone, trust the in-game effect description over a pre-set percentage number.
How to think about SPD breakpoints
SPD (Speed) controls how often a character acts in the turn order — higher SPD means denser actions, and for some roles (especially support/healing that need to buff or heal before the team gets hit) hitting the right SPD "breakpoint" matters more than the raw SPD number. Values like 101 or 134 SPD are often cited as community-common breakpoints (letting a character act again before or after a specific point in certain team setups) — this is crowd-verified action-gauge math, not an official fixed number the game states for every situation. The right breakpoint also depends on the team and allies' SPD, so treat the SPD suggestion in the table above as a starting point to adjust from, not a mandatory target.
Where to dig deeper
This section only teaches you how to read the page — for deeper comparisons, use the dedicated tools:
- Tier list to see where this character stands against the full roster.
- Teams for full in-game comps with rotation order.
- Relic score to check how your current gear scores against the benchmark.























